Skein cover and process employing the same



Sept. 8, 1936. 5 w COLLINS ET 2,053,985

SKE IN COVER AND PROCESS EMPLOYING THE SAME I Filed April 10, 1935 s Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS BENJAMIN W. COLLINS EDGAR S. KENNEDY GEORGE M. ALLEN BY THEIR ATTORNEYS P 1936.. B. w. COLLINS ET AL 2,053,985

SKEIN COVER AND PROCESS EMPLOYING THE SAME Filed April 10, 1935 s Sheets-Sheet 2 I'NVENTORS BENJAMIN W. COLLINS EDGAR S. KENNEDY GEORGE M. ALLEN BY THEIR ATTORNEYS P 1935- B. w. COLLINS ET AL 2,053,985

SKEIN COVER AND PROCESS EMPLOYING THE SAME Filed April l0, 1935 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTORS BENJAMIN w. COLLINS EDGAR s. KENNEDY GEORGE M. ALLEN BY THEIR ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SKEIN COVER AND PROCESS EMPLOYING THE SAME sylvania Application April 10, 1935, Serial No. 15,716

11 Claims.

This invention relates to skein covers and processes employing the same, for protecting skeins of artificial thread during liquid treatment thereof. While the invention is described with particular reference to the viscose process,,it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited thereto, as it is of similar advantage with other rayon processes in which freshly spun rayon yarn is to be processed in skein form by liquids.

In the manufacture of artificial threads by the Viscose process, filaments are formed by extruding a spinning solution through a spinneret into a coagulating bath. These filaments are passed over one or more godets to a spinning box which twists the filaments into a thread. In this box spinning, the thread is produced in the form of a cake, which is removed from the spinning box and subjected to a reeling operation.

The thread is reeled from this cake into a hank or skein by means of a swift, to which it is supplied by a traverse mechanism having a cycle frequency calculated to lay the threads in an open mesh pattern. Thus the thread is laid on the reel in open diamonds, through which a lacing is passed and tied, to preserve the form of the 'skein. The McIsaac Patent No. 1,179,016 dated April 11th, 1916 is an example of apparatus by means of which this reeling operation is carried out.

These skeins as produced in the manner described above are further, processed by liquid treatments such as washing, desulfurizing and bleaching. The laced skeins are manually removed from the swift and passed onto these wash rods, about eight skeins being hung over each rod. The filled rods are inserted in a portable rack or truck and removed to a position adjacent the washing machine, to which the wash rods with the skeins thereon are supplied. After washing, the skeins are-manually transferred to bleach rods, and subjected to several different treating liquids in succession. The Clayton Patent No. 1,116,242 dated November 3rd, 1914 is an example of the general type of machine in which the washing, desulfurizing and bleaching are carried out.

This manual handling of the skeins in processing causes mechanical damage to the threads, and the physical action of the liquid impinging upon the skeins and passing therethrough tends to break filaments, disturb the twist and tangle the skeins. All of these actions cause damage to the yarn and result in inferior quality.

It is therefore the main object of the present invention to protect the skeins from physical or mechanical damage during liquid treatment thereof.

It has long been considered desirable to wrap the skeins in some sort of a protective covering which would be pervious tothe liquids, but prior expedients for this purpose have been unsuccessful. For example, it has been tried to wrap the skeins with open mesh cloth such as cheesecloth, but this material being a natural cotton fabric, consequently has a natural fuzz which adheres to the rayon filaments, causes tangling and other difficulties with the process to a prohibitive degree.

It is therefore a further specific object or feature to avoid this difficulty, and this we accomplish by employing fabric of artificial threads which do not have this natural fuzz.

Knitted rayon fabric is preferred to Woven rayon cloth because woven rayon cloth is expensive, but such Woven rayon cloth may be otherwise satisfactory if it is of sufiiciently open and suitable mesh to permit ready passage of liquids therethrough without disarranging the mesh.

It has also been tried to employ a tube of seamless circular knit fabric, in order that there might be no seams to tangle with the yarn, and this necessarily resulted in the knit fabric being course- Wise to the yarn in the skeins. However, the nature of coursewise knitted fabric permits prohibitive stretching thereof under the liquid treatment, so that excess slack would wrap around the bleach rods and otherwise interfere with the process.

It is therefore a further specific object or feature to provide a fabric which does not stretch materially in the direction of the yarn in the skeins, and this we accomplish by employing walewise fabric. The walewise fabric of course necessitates seams which run perpendicular to the direction of the. yarn in the skeins, but we have found in practice that such seams do not cause tangling or otherwise interfere.

It has also been tried to place the skein cover on the swift, and winding the yarn on top of the cover in forming the skein, but the outer band of the cover is thrown outward by the centrifugal force due to the rotation of the reel, and tends to catch on the stationary parts or become caught under the yarn or break the same. On the other hand, to fasten down the cover is a time consuming expedient, which must be repeated in reverse order to release the cover. Furthermore, the capacity of the cover is limited to the number of skeins which can be wound on one reel at one time.

It is therefore a further specific object or feature to provide a liquid treating process employing fabric skein covers which does not require the cover to be placed on the reel, and this we accomplish by applying the cover or inserting the skeins thereinafter the reeling is completed.

In the liquid treatment of the laced skeins hereinbefore referred to, the treating liquid flowing along the yarn tends to arrange both the yarn and the filaments thereof in parallel, but this tendency is abruptly opposed by the lacing. Furthermore, the liquid inside the skein passes the lacing only with difficulty and hence flows out over the lacing. These conditions tend to form loops and consequent tangling at the lacing, which results in irregularity in the yarn.

It is therefore a further object of the present invention to eliminate the lacing and its attendant difficulties while preserving the desired function of maintaining the skein in its proper form. This object is accomplished by the skein cover according to the present invention.

The open diamonds hereinbefore referred to as provided to permit the lacing of the skeins, necessarily concentrate the yarn in strands defining the diamonds, so that the thickness of these strands soon build up the outer diameter of the skein after a relatively short length of yarn has been reeled. As this thickness of strand, or difference between the inner and outer diameters of the skein is an important factor in processing, it is a limitation on the length of yarn which can. be reeled into a single skein.

The open diamonds may be eliminated by providing any suitable gearing for the swift such that the frequency of the traverse cycle is no longer that required to give a uniform mesh. This results in so much smaller diamonds that much more yarn may be reeled into a single skein without exceeding the optimum thickness or outside diameter, and the skein may be considered by contrast as a solid skein.

It is therefore a further object of the present invention to eliminate the open diamonds and increase the length of yarn which can be processed in a single skein, and in short to permit the use of a solid skein.

Other objects and features of novelty will be apparent as the following description proceeds, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the skein cover according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the walewise fabric thereof being indicated in enlarged form; a

Figure 2 is a detail of one corner of the skein cover, showing the first step in forming the same;

Figure 3 is a View similar to Figure 2, showing a second operation;

Figure 4 is a further view showing the final step of completing the skein cover;

Figure 5 is an enlarged elevation looking in the direction of the arrow 5 shown in Figure 1;

Figure 6 is a similar view looking in the direction of the arrow 6 in Figure 1;

Figure '7 is an elevation of a bleach rod rack having a skein cover thereon in open position and two skeins applied thereto;

Figure 8 is a similar view showing the skein cover filled, closed and tied.

cover containing a group of skeins in process in the bleach machine;

Figure 10 is a longitudinal section taken along the line Ill-I0 of Figure 9; and

Figure 11 is a diagrammatic view showing the step of wringing the skeins in the cover after the liquid treatment is completed.

The skein cover according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention comprises an inner band I2 best shown in Figure 7 and an outer band I3 of larger diameter best shown in Figure 8. Skeins I4 are applied over the band I2 as shown in Figure '7, the larger diameter of the outer band I3 permitting the same to be pulled over the outside of the skeins.

The skein cover is constructed as best shown in Figures 1-6 inclusive. As indicated by the enlarged diagrammatic showing of stitches in Figure 1, the skein cover is constructed of walewise knit fabric, that is to say, the wales of the knit fabric run in the direction of the yarn in the skeins to be covered thereby. This necessitates that the cover be constructed of two identical blanks I6 and I8. These blanks have walewise edges I9 and 20, approximately half the circumference of the skein on the swift, and coursewise edges 22 and 23 which are stitched together to form a tubular envelope.

As shown in Figure 1 the blanks are generally in the form of a rectangle, one half thereof as indicated at 25 being of increased width so as to form the outer band I3. The corners of the larger half 25 are cut away as at 26, so as to tightly seal the cover when closed.

As shown in Figure 2 the cut edge 22 including the cut-01f corner 26 is folded over along the line 21 to the position shown in Figure 3 and a piece of fabric tape 30 is applied to the folded over portion. A seam 32 is stitched through the parts as held in this position, to simultaneously close the cut edges 22 and secure the tape 30 to the skein cover.

The skein cover constructed as above is employed in the process illustrated in Figures 7 and 11 inclusive. The rack 35 is merely a vertical frame of any desired construction, preferably mounted on rollers so as to be readily removed from the reeling machine to the washing machine, and is suitably provided with supports 36 to receive the supporting rods 31. The skein cover is passed over the supporting rod to the position shown in Figure '7, the inner band I2 extending along the rod while the outer or cover band I3 is folded back or collapsed at the inner end adjacent to the rack 35.

As the reeling of the skeins is completed, the skeins are removed from the reels and passed over the supporting rod 31 onto the inner band I2 thereon, to the position shown adjacent the collapsed band I3. After a desired number of skeins have been applied in this manner, the collapsed band I3 is pulled over the skeins I4 to the position shown in Figure 8 in which the outer band I3 is substantially parallel to the inner band l2 and the edges I9 and 20 are brought together. The tapes 30 are then tied together as shown, securing the edges I9 and 20 together, and closing the skein cover and thus retaining the skeins therein.

The rack 35 of course may support a plurality of supporting rods 3'! each carrying a skein cover, and after all the skein covers have been filled and tied, the rack is rolled to a position adjacent the washing machine. The rods with Figure 9 is a vertical section through a skein the skeins thereon are transferred to that machine. It will be readily understood that the group of skeins, as secured inside the skein cover, constitutes a unit for the processing in passing through the washing and bleaching machine.

Figure 9 illustrates this unit in process in the washing machine, of which a part of the frame 40 and the drip tank 4| are shown. The unit hangs suspended from the bleach rod 31 and the rain of liquid from the tank 4| descends thereon and penetrates the skein cover and passes down through the skein, thoroughly subjecting the same to the liquid treatment. The operation of the washing machine is such that the rod 3'1 is rotated, first in one direction and then in the other so as to bring all portions of the skein cover to a position directly under the tank 4| to insure thorough penetration of the liquid.

A further particular advantage of the skein cover is illustrated in Figure 10. While the walewise fabric has far less stretch than coursewise fabric, there is a slight stretch due to the weight of the liquid contained in the skein. This condition along with the narrowing shown at 26 in Figure 1 causes the lower end of the unit in process to assume the shape shown in Figure 10. The resulting sag forms a pocket which retains a pool 42 of treating liquid, which insures an immersion as well as a raining action of the liquid. The operations for the washing, desulfurizing and bleaching operations are all quite similar, the difference being in the character of the liquid in the tank 4|. For example, the liquid treatment may be carried out by several Clayton machines in tandem, the drip tank of each which contains a different treating liquid. The skein cover protects the yarn from damage in the manual handling incident to the transfer of the skeins from the wash rod to the bleach rod.

It should be noted that the protection from mechanical damage afforded by the skein cover permits the unit to be passed between rollers 45 and 46, to wring or squeeze out a large part of the retained water. It is of advantage to eliminate mechanically as much of the water as possible before drying, in order to save steam and drying time. This may be done at one or more different times inthe process, for example before steam drying (stoving) between liquid treatments, or before the final drying machine.

A further advantage of the skein cover is that any diificulty of the dissolved salts drying out locally clue to wick action cannot harm the yarn, because this takes place on the skein cover.

Our invention embraces such embodiments of the disclosed ideas as fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:-

1. In apparatus for' the manufacture of artificial yarn by extruding filaments, spinning the filaments into thread, reeling the thread into skeins, and liquid treating the skeins, the improvement which comprises a fabric envelope into which a plurality of said skeins are inserted to form a unit, a support over which said unit is passed to suspend the same therefrom and form a loop, means for subjecting said suspended unit to a rain of treating liquid, said envelope being constructed and arranged for maintaining a pool of treating liquid in the loop of said unit.

2. Method of processing artificial yarn which has been spun into cakes by the wet spinning process, which comprises reeling the moist yarn from said cakes onto swifts of skeleton construction, while leading the yarn thereon with traverses having cycle frequencies which are not even multiples of the revolutions of said Swifts, wherebyoverlapped diamonds are formed and a greater length of yarn is wound into said skeins without increasing the outside diameter thereof, removing the skeins thus reeled from the swifts and passing them over the inner band of a fabric envelope, pulling the outer band of said envelope over said skeins and tying it to said inner band to form a unit, suspending said unit to form a loop, subjecting said suspended unit to a rain of treating liquid, while moving contacting portions of said skeins and inner and outer bands in parallel in the direction of said rain and moving the portions opposite thereto in counterflow relation to said rain.

3. A processing unit for liquid treatment of skeins of artificial yarn, comprising a row of skeins of said yarn and a skein cover inclosing said row to protect them during said liquid'treatment, said skein cover comprising a fabric envelope having an inner band extending through the loop of each of the skeins of said row so as to underlie the same, and around which inner band said skeins extend in substantially parallel relation, and an outer band which is sufficiently larger than said inner band to be folded and pulled over the outside of said row of skeins with substantially the same tension as said inner band, and means for detachably securing together the free edges of said cover to retain said skeins therein, said bands, skeins and detachably secured edges all having a common free interior opening therethrough which may be passed over a support to hang said unit thereover for receiving said liquid treatment.

4. A skein cover comprising a tube of knitted fabric having a longitudinal seam, in which the wales extend around the tube transversely to said seam, and the courses extend longitudinally of said tube substantially parallel to said seam.

5. A skein cover comprising a tube of knitted rayon fabric, in which the wales extend around the tube and the courses extend longitudinally of the tube, whereby said tube is capable of materially less stretch in the direction tending to expand the tube than in the direction longitudinally of the tube.

6. A skein cover for protecting skeins of artificial yarn during liquid treatment thereof, comprising an envelope of knitted fabric having an inner band over which the skeins are placed so as to extend therearound, and in which the wales extend in substantially the same direction as the yarn in the skeins and the courses extend transversely thereto, and an outer band adapted to be pulled over the skeins on said inner band and having substantially the same disposition of wales and courses.

7. A skein cover for protecting skeins of artificial yarn during liquid treatment thereof, comprising a fabric envelope having an inner band over which the skeins are placed so as to extend therearound, and an outer band adapted to be pulled over the skeins on said inner band, the sides of said outer band being tapered inward toward said inner band, and means for detachably securing the free edges of said envelope together to retain the skeins therein and prevent said edges from interfering with said treatment.

8. A cover for protecting skeins of artificial thread during liquid treatment thereof comprising an envelope having an inner band adapted to lie within the skein and form a liner therefor, and constructed of fabric the thread of which is free of natural fuzz, the fabric of said inner band being constructed and arranged to stretch materially less in the direction of the thread in the skein than in the direction transverse thereto, and an outer fabric band sufficiently larger than said inner band to be pulled over the skein on said inner band and constructed and arranged to stretch no more in the direction of the thread in the skein than in the direction transverse thereto, means for securing the corresponding open edges of said bands together, said securing means being releasable to permit removal of said cover.

9. A cover for protecting skeins of artificial thread during liquid treatment thereof, comprising an envelope having inner and outer bands, said outer band being sufiiciently larger than said inner band to be pulled over the skeins and surround the same, said inner band comprising fabric having parallel edges seamed together and being sufiiciently smaller than said outer band to lie within said skeins and form a liner therefor having substantially no more slack than said outer band, and means for securing the corresponding open edges of said bands together, said securing means being releasable to permit removal of the cover.

10. Method of processing coils of artificial thread, which comprises lining the inside of said coil with the inner band of a fabric envelope and covering the outside of said coil with the outer band of said envelope to form with the coil therein a processing unit, passing said unit over a support so as to hang thereover and depend limply therefrom, subjecting said unit so supported to a rain of treating liquid, and moving one portion of said coil and inner and outer bands in parallel as a unit in the direction of said rain while moving the opposite portion of said unit in counterflow relation to said rain.

11. Method or processing skeins of artificial thread, which comprises lining the inside of a row of said skeins with the inner band of a fabric envelope, covering the outside of said row of skeins with the outer band of said envelope, maintaining the slack in the inner hand no greater than the slack in the outer band, securing the free edges of said envelope together to form with the row of skeins therein a processing unit, passing said unit over a support to hang down limply therefrom and form a loop, subjecting said suspended unit to a rain of treating liquid while rotating said support, and collecting a pool of treating liquid from said rain in the loop of said unit.

BENJAMIN W. COLLINS. EDGAR S. KENNEDY. GEORGE M. ALLEN. 

